Community Participation Projects, Social Marketing and the Role of Local NGOs

Raising the level of participation in environmental conservation by the local communities has been a key objective of the PAP component. This has been addressed through the involvement of local NGOs in Community Participation Projects (CPPs). Seventeen CPPs have been funded in seven countries. Many of the activities undertaken directly support the SAP components.

Experience shows that the design and implementation of an integrated marketing approach ¾ one that merges communication, education and training ¾ will have a gradual but sustainable impact on the perception of target audiences. The process is best understood as being one of knowledge dissemination or information disclosure. However, in order to ensure that this knowledge is well-received, preliminary groundwork is imperative. The cornerstone of this groundwork is the social assessment survey from which the administrators of a marketing plan acquire a better understanding of the target communities and determine how the promotion of environment-oriented values would be perceived by the different stakeholders.

As such, PERSGA conducted a social marketing survey of the RSGA Region from the 30th of July to the 27th of September 2001 in order to identify the ways and means to:

Convince local communities that belief, attitude, and conviction towards positive environmental changes are not only possible but can also be beneficial both in the present and future

Motivate people, rally their support, and provide them with the necessary participation channels

The goals of the Assessment were two-fold: 1) to carry out a region-wide social assessment survey, and 2) develop an appropriate social marketing strategy for PERSGA based on the survey appraisal ¾ an action plan that is well-aligned with the needs of the affected communities.

The research team for the survey was composed of a social marketing consultant and a micro grant expert who travelled to three of the seven member countries together (Yemen, Sudan, Somaliland) where they were joined by the national programme coordinator (NPC) for that country. The social marketing assessment was then continued in the remaining four PERSGA countries (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Djibouti) to complete the fieldwork. Detailed interview meetings were held with high environment public officials, middle management, NGOs, private business representatives and key media actors. These groups were identified beforehand as the likely actors in three essential social target audiences: the decision makers, the stakeholders, and the media motivators.

Capacity Building and Training:

A regional workshop was held at the Dana Reserve (2002) in collaboration with the GEF Small Grants Programme in Jordan for 18 representatives involved in implementing the CPPs. The participants were trained on the financial issues related to the grant agreements, the implementation of CPPs and how to prepare reports according to the format required by the GEF Small Grants Programme. A manual has now been prepared that provides procedures and guidelines for the management and implementation of the CPPs .

Success story

Following a CPP targeted at the Saudi Boy Scouts Society, PERSGA entered into an agreement with the Scouts organization to carry out several public awareness activities. The Boy Scouts Society ran three public awareness raising activities during the summer 2003 to coincide with the Jeddah Shopping Festival. The work was done so well that the Scout team responsible for carrying out these activities was awarded second prize in the Ford Cars Agency Environmental Competition and the scout leader collected the award in Dubai in October.